TheNiche

I like downtown Georgetown, especially the north part of it along the San Gabriel River, and there's a Hungarian restaurant in downtown Pflugerville that I like. Lake Travis is what it is, and that's fairly close. My knowledge of Austin's far northern suburbs is fairly limited, though. I know that 183 going into town has been a big mess for a long time, but I'm not sure how close they are to completion. If its still going to be a while, then Cedar Park is probably about the last place you're going to want to be within the Austin area.

That's interesting. I'd always known that he was considered a kind of 'food nazi' but hadn't heard any stories except for how he usually has a really dour look on his face.

As it so happens, I'm in the office again this weekend (right now) to meet a hard deadline. Why do I do it? To make money (and health insurance), yes, but also to meet deadlines so as to serve and build trust among clients, frequently aware of my effort, to preserve and enhance relationships with my superiors and colleagues, and to be able to free myself up for networking opps during the week. To what end? Money and relationships, ultimately independence. You are wrong that money can't buy time. It most certainly can, and higher quality time at that. And any relationships are $$$ in the bank.

Okie dokie. [shrug] I've never said that I'm a major player in any scene, nor led anyone to believe that. I don't provide verifiable scoops insomuch as strong-worded hints because as much as I post on here, it wouldn't be difficult for someone that matters to figure it out and for the whole issue to come around and bit me in the ass. If you think its all meaningless and that I sound like an economics textbook, feel free to put me on your ignore list. I don't mean to be a pest, if that's how you see me...but you don't have to see me. Very simple. It has been my friend off and on for a couple years, but it's a love-hate relationship. I could stand do without it.

Nope, I don't see any major commercial on the map at Prairie and Lone Star...not that the map actually means anything, of course. West Houston Assn. likes master planned communities more or less because they look nice and attract better demographics. Developers, engineers, and the like can develop anywhere and in any form. Only a very few are equipped to handle the financial burden of a large MPC, anyway. Whether it happens in one form or another, they'll be there to build and make money.

And if you live at Westpark and the Grand Parkway, but work at the intersection of Westpark and the 610 Loop, that'd be relevant.

Perhaps I wasn't clear, or perhaps you just didn't read what I was replying to, but I absolutely agree that a Capitol Street route is preferable. What I don't like is a grade-level crossing with a railroad track, a dearth of major streetscape/pedestrian improvements, and a fewer number of stops, all with no parallel shuttle service. Bad idea. What on earth are you talking about? HCTRA was responsive--otherwise they wouldn't have renigged on their vote to double tolls on Westpark. And I did criticize them on that thread not only for handling the situation poorly, but for not having in place a way to slowly and incrementally raise the toll in a way that people can anticipate and adapt to. Fault for this fiasco rests squarely on their shoulders. I am my own source. You only have to ride their vehicles--I have to put up with their repeated acts of incompetence professionally. ...and you're not getting a story out of me. If my word is not good enough to convince you, and I wouldn't presume to think that it is, well that's A-OK by me. See if I care. [shrug]

As it is, the southeast line will merge with the Harrisburg line and enter downtown via Capitol Street, if I'm not mistaken. That's where it will cross the Red Line, terminating in the west part of downtown. The intermodal station is not within walking distance of the southeast line. I'd like to think that METRO would do it right the first time, rather than build it two times over in short order. ...but my faith in them is shaken. They are fundamentally a political unit, and they function to support bureaucracies more than people. Any attempt at physically fixing a problem would be an admission of guilt, and they would know better than to do something like that. So I expect them to screw it up from the beginning and not fix it at least until they implement LRT, perhaps not even then.

You speak of logic?

That was what longcat was saying, but he viewed it as beneficial.

...put in the word "poor", and those quotation marks become a lie. From the forum guidelines, under the "Terms and Rules" section, I quote, "You may not post blatantly or demonstrably false information. The world is full of enough rumors and innuendo. The intent of this forum is to generate more light than heat."

The 'job' or 'no job' choice is usually pretty low on the list of sacrifices, and when it comes down to it, a change like this may only cause such households to reevaluate their place of employment rather than whether or not they have a job at all. But I will give you one thing--Harris County needs to set and maintain strict policies regarding changes of toll rates. If it is a scheduled and incremental change that occurs frequently and in relatively small amounts, people can at least be aware when they move somewhere that toll road rates could go up in the future. As it is, you can hardly blame most toll road users for being at least a bit upset, not because the tolls would've been going up, but because they would've been going up so unexpectedly and by so much all at once.

Who are you quoting? Where did you come up with that ridiculous load of ****?

Because its been a PR fiasco rooting from poor communications and highly vocal (if not always rational) constituents. ...that doesn't necessarily mean that it is a bad decision.

Interesting reading, there...but it seemed to indicate that the County may try to implement something other than the METRO Solutions plan which was approved by voters. This could get...interesting. I'm not sure how this might play out. No, you never did imply embezzlement, but that's one of the very few ways in which all the proceeds from the sale of a toll road system could just disappear and not come back around to benefit the citizens of Harris County in some form or another. That's not to say that they won't make some bad decisions in allocating such proceeds, but hey, cash assets and infrastructure assets can each be mismanaged. The only way to avoid government waste is not to have government involvement in the first place; I'd be OK with privately-funded toll roads built from scratch, but then we come right back to the basis for your initial complaint.

Yeah, people get mad about a lot of things. [shrug] Actions speak louder than words. Frankly, I think that you answered your own question:

Fair point.

If they sold out the toll road system in exchange for a butt-load of cash, what do you think happens to the cash? Does it just sit there, depreciating in value at the rate of inflation? Do the nth generation of Commissioners embezzle it, as surely was the plan all along? What? The County and METRO are two seperate organizations. They act independently of one another although admittedly each of their actions have repercussions on the other. ...and with that in mind, if commuters are willing to pay for toll road infrastructure WILLFULLY, whereas METRO has to susidize (or in essence, pay commuters to use) infrastructure, doesn't that say something about which is the preferred mode of travel? You are correct that we will probably not see commuter rail for a long time, but that has more to do with a successful P&R system and the acquisition of trackage rights from UP and BNSF than it does with the County or HCTRA vetoing anything.

Please explain.

I would concur, except that its location is not unique, and while elementary schools are undoubtedly excellent, that is not necessarily as accurate by the time that a kid gets to high school, which serves a larger area...and regardless of the quality of public schools, I'd imagine that a lot of West U kids get put in private schools. The differentiating factor seems to be that as an enclave city, West U has the capability to keep out the riff raff and ensure a particular homogenity of residents--and a lot of people really go for that.

Say, I'd be curious to know whether it would be possible to display real-time and historical hit stats on the home page. Maybe divide each day into 30-minute or hour intervals and have a system that automatically updates a bar graph showing the previous 24-hour period, and then another bar graph that shows historical hits, such as monthly or annually, for as far back as you've got data.

I don't understand, myself, what makes West U so desirable that people are willing to pay upwards of $80psf for dirt. A fair bit of downtown has less expensive land than that. ...but so it goes, when some neighborhood or another becomes so prestigious. For some reason, a lot of people really like being insulated amongst people just like themselves.

1) Yes, and there's probably a consulate in town that can put you in touch with the right folks. 2) b4-u-eat.com should have all the answers you want. I don't care much for Nit Noi, personally. Way too Americanized. 3) Yes, there is a big Indian population, but the best selection of Indian food and at reasonable prices is in southwest Houston, especially along Hillcroft (8-10 miles from you). I can't say much about the north/south issue for lack of knowledge, but I can tell you that your selection will be plenty large enough to satisfy you.

It's about 2/3 full. There are still a lot of hold-outs that have been there for nearly all their working/retired lives. ...and you can't be too snobby to be willing to live so close to Little Central America. Both communities have their painfully annoying citizens, but to say that either one is "full of rich snobs" is pretty snobby itself.